


Death And Distruction

by Kulkum



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action, Angst, Erotica, F/M, Humor, Interspecies Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 05:34:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4379210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kulkum/pseuds/Kulkum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who can you trust? What happens when someone who trusts no one finds someone who cannot lie? And what if they're both a little crazy? Good times!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wrecking Crew

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is a warning, warning, warning. Welcome to the hilariously dark side of my mind. This story contains lots of vile language, lots of violence, and a nice dose of rough sex tossed into the drink to make things spicy. Mwhahahaha!
> 
> Ahem. Anyway. This story was inspired by the song Scream by Avenged Sevenfold. The story itself, which will have two chapters, is a depiction of how love is not always sweet, lovey, and gentle. And what better way to show that, than to show how it can develop between two very unlikely crew mates? This is in the same story world as Always Be There, so you'll notice little bits here and there mentioned.
> 
> Enjoy!

_"Jack and Grunt, report to ops on the double. The Commander has something planned I think you two might like. You know, blowing things up, killing a few people. The things you guys throw parties about."  
_

Jack snorted to herself, as she pulled herself up from the (admittedly more comfortable) bed. The stupid pilot and his stupid attempts at humor. Nothing better to wake up to than his smart mouth. "Someone who could break if I sneezed on his dick shouldn't be such a fucking smart ass," she grumbled in reply as she stalked towards ops.

_"Come on, Jack. It was a joke. Mostly. Don't kill me."_

She smirked to herself as she cleared the steps up to the elevator in a few quick double steps, knowing good and damned well that he was just being a smart ass again. She had to admit, the man had balls for a piece of glass. Not that she ever wanted anything to do with his balls, just as much because he was not her 'type' in any way other than rob 'em after fucking them. Of course, she knew Shepard would have been on her ass if that had happened, more for the fact that Joker wouldn't have gotten out of her bed without a few broken bones to show for it.

As always, when she walked through the ship, people got out of her way. She was still the outsider, still the one feared by more than half the crew. Even when compared to the aliens, which she found funny as hell considering the fact that they were all Cerberus stooges. She came, and they would try to melt away and remain unnoticed, finding something that needed their attention.

It was how she wanted it. It really was. She had taken enough 'be my friend' bullshit from Shepard, she did not need some white suited Cerberus monkey trying to make nice. Her entire life had been a lesson that had taught her that it was best to be alone. Just because Shepard had shown that some people in the Galaxy were actually honest to god saints who would rather jump in front of a bullet that put one in your back didn't mean she wanted everyone to be her buddy. It was bad enough having to listen to those engineers laughing and being buddy buddy with each other (she wondered if they were grinding hips at night, but doubted the red head had the guts to make a move on his "best friend"), along with the Quarian being moon struck every time she got a letter from some Kal-Regar guy. One friend was enough, as long as that friend was Shepard.

Stepping out into the hall, she was nearly run over by the hulking mass that was the "perfect Krogan". Stumbling back, and catching herself only by grace of the fact that the wall was still there to support her, she turned a glare up at the massive... Lizard. "God dammit, watch where you're going, tube lizard!"

The Krogan looked down at her for a moment, his eyes scanning her as she pulled herself away from the wall. He always did that when he saw her. Like he was... Sizing her up, determining the level of threat she represented to him. He had stopped doing that with everyone else on the Normandy, but still he watched her. Jack wasn't blind, but she could have been and still would have noticed it. From across rooms, when they were on missions, even while they were eating. He was way too obvious about it, but she didn't think he gave a fuck. It worked for her, and she simply stood and stared back at him with her hands balling into fists at her sides. "You got something you wanna say, fucking say it. Stop looking at me like I'm your long lost girlfriend, people will start talking."

His only reply to her was a grunt (figures, right?) before he stepped to the side and continued on his way to the elevator. Following, just because they were heading to same place, she stepped into the lift beside him and leaned against the wall with her hands shoved into her pockets. To her surprise, because he had never really done so before, he started to talk. To her. Fucking great.

"I've have everyone else on this ship figured out. Aside from Shepard, the Turian, the assassin, and the Asari Matron, there is no one on this ship that would give me significant trouble should I have to kill them. You, I have not figured out. What I see should be weak. You are small, your body too thin, you have no armor natural or otherwise. A single bullet, or a strong enough blow should be the end of you."

It was easy for her to ignore the fact that his voice was... _Don't even turn down that road, Jack. Jesus, I need some dick worse than I thought if freshly hatched tube lizard sounds sexy._ Scowling as she looked up at him, she allowed the biotic rush to roll over her. The flare of blue drew the gaze of the massive male after a moment, though he said nothing as she shot daggers at him. "That some kinda threat? Because I don't think the ship will survive it when I punch your giant head through the hull!"

"Exactly!" She was stunned, and annoyed, when he seemed delighted rather than intimidated by her threat. "That's exactly what I mean! You look small and weak, but you growl like a predator! You have the body of a human, but you have the eyes of a killer!" He raised one hand, to clench it in front of him as he looked at her. She could see the fire in his eyes, the rush of excitement that she had seen come over him before charging head first into a battle with Shepard. "You wade into battle as if the battle had come just for you, and destroy those who oppose you without hesitation. I have never seen anything quite like it, from one so small. And it confuses me."

"You think too hard," she smirked, allowing the power to slip away as the blue glow faded from around her. She eyed the Krogan for a moment, as he faced the door once it opened. Seeming to consider her words, the gray plated Krogan grunted again as he stomped out of the elevator. Watching him go, she hesitated for a moment before taking off after him. She had almost forgotten that they were going in the same direction, muttering to herself as she jogged to catch up. "What the fuck?"

* * *

_"Shock troopers?"_

_"Yes, shock troopers," Shepard said, looking between the two of them. "You and Grunt will attack in force on the eastern face of the mountain compound. Stir up some trouble, blow up a few things while you're there. The two of you should be more than capable of drawing off the main security force while Garrus, Thane and I slip in the back and extract the Collector tech."_

_"Hm... A battle worthy of a Krogan. Thank you, Battle Master."_

_"Yeah. Sounds like loads of fun. Any particular reason we're being used as cannon fodder, Shepard?"_

_"I figured you would rather be left unleashed for a while. It is a Cerberus compound, after all."_

_"It's... Fuck yeah! When do we leave?"_

It was hard to ignore how excited the human female seemed. Primed, ready to kill, and eager to get out of the shuttle and into the fray. They had a battle plan, of course, but that battle plan only mentioned getting close enough to the base undetected to cause as much chaos as possible. Now that they were out of the shuttle, it was almost difficult to keep pace with her. Almost. She had moved easily through the forest while the branches had beaten against his face in her wake, and now climbed and jumped from the rocks they scaled to reach the compounds lower buildings at a pace that forced him to skip careful climbing in favor of keeping pace.

And he could feel it, as much from her as from within his own blood. The song of battle. They had not even reached the compound, had not fired a shot, and he could already feel it burning through his limbs. He knew much of it came from her. She has said nothing since they had disembarked from the shuttle, but the fire of violent joy in her eyes and the constant pump of her limbs to keep herself moving was.. Inspiring. He was beginning to see why she had been chosen for this particular mission. Slender though her tatted covered body was, she moved with grace rather than lumbering sureness. Muscles that he knew existed on the human body but had never seen in motion were bare to his eyes now as she moved from one rock to the next on their climb. The endless flow of motion under soft skin was... Arousing?

Shaking the thought from his mind as they cleared the final obstacle on the slope, sharp blue eyes scanned the land scape around them. The fact that this door into the compound was so lightly guarded was surprising, foolish, and to no end disappointing. Huffing sharply, he started towards the mechanical door that stood in their path. Neither one of them was a tech, so he was aware that blunt force would be required to gain enough attention for that door to open.

"Knock kock, mother fuckers."

His head whipped around to the human, who he now realized had not moved from their perch on the rock face. Slitted eyes grew wide, when he felt as much as saw the vortex of biotic energy that the tattooed female had become, and further when he saw that she had levitated a bolder nearly twice her own size over her head. The strain on her face was obvious, but so was the almost lustful grin of insane delight that brightened her painted lips as she whipped both arms forward and sent the massive stone flying. The force of it slammed into the dura-steel door, causing the ground itself to violently shudder as the two halves of the door were ripped inward. The bolder itself shattered after impact, showering the area in rubble moments before the blare of alarms filled the air over half the mountain.

Impressed. Inspired. Aroused. Ready for battle. Simple words, in themselves, but all heightening into a fantastic feeling of euphoria for the young Krogan, who's large mouth turned upward in a toothy grin. Jack herself, flushed and still glowing a sharp blue from the biotic surge that she controlled with such ease, returned the grin as a smirk before dashing past the male and through the now worthless doors. Watching her for only a moment, the Krogan roared his defiance to whoever was waiting on the other end before he charged after her.

"Eeerrrrraaahhh!"

That sound had not come from him, and the fury behind it sparked the fire in his blood into a roar that was almost deafening as he squeezed his way through the doors. What he saw on the other end left him stunned to silence for a few seconds.

Jack was already charging head first into the fray, with her body aglow with biotic power fueled by her own rage as she reached the first group of guards that awaited them. Well armed, well armored guards. Guards that were smashed to the side as Jack plowed through the front line, and sent white armored human males flying in three different directions. Those unfortunate enough not to be knocked aside in that first charge were quickly subjected to her direct wrath. Swiftly spinning on her heel, the shotgun that she often swung like a mace was brought to bear into the face of one stunned human solider. A stunned human soldier who's shields did not prevent gray matter from exploding from the back of his head when the trigger was pulled point blank. The same motion that lowered her gun was used to whip another into the nearby wall with a snap and crack that told the Krogan that his armor had not stopped his spine from snapping from the whiplash effect of the impact.

Awed was added to Grunts list of present emotions as the tattooed human slammed her glowing fist into the armored chest of her next target, shattering the armor and everything under it before sending him flying into the small cluster of soldier's behind him. He had never seen anything like her before. Samara, the Asari who wore her biotic powers like a cloak of calm strength was powerful, but lacked passion. But this... This aroused feelings in him that called to his blood, and when he saw a new squad of guards coming from the other direction, the rumble that rose in his chest was relished as much as he had watching her decimate the first wave. This woman, this... Female, was like a goddess lost in the lust for battle, death and blood.

No, not a Goddess. There was no benevolent need for followers, no demands for tribute. Okeer had implanted another term, a human term that he had found worthy enough to include in his conditioning. An entity that did little more than kill, because that was the reason for it's creation.

It would do.

The Angel of Death.

* * *

Instinct was 50% of what pushed her onward. Hate was another 25%, and the small part of her that loved a good fight was 15%. That left 10% that was actually loyal to Shepard, and drove her to do her part for the mission. It was more than she had ever given anyone in a long time. Not since... _Damn, don't think about that now._ Ah, but rage was good sometimes, damn it. Another war cry/scream left her as she grabbed one white helmet in both hands and sent a blast of force intended to knock a target down at twenty feet right into the bastards skull. The liquefied matter that now occupied the broken helm could hardly have passed for a brain even before she had destroyed it, but it was fun to do it anyway.

She wondered what the crew would do if they knew she had considered this kind of violence with them? Run away in terror, no doubt. Even the cheerleader wouldn't have been able to stop her. Of course, this was all before Shepard had dropped Cerberus like a bad habit, winning a good bit of brownie points in the process, and the crew had still remained with her. So, they were no longer in immediate danger of ending up like oatmeal head, though she always had one eye on them and the other on ways to kill them should they try to turn on her or Shepard.

And then, there was Grunt. He tried to figure her out, for whatever reason he felt the need to do so, and she tried to figure him out because he was trying to figure her out. She had never taken him to be the type to pry into someone's mind, but his prying was... Honest at least. He didn't try to use pretty words, or tell her that he was doing it for her own good. He had flat out told her that he was trying to decide if killing her would be easy or not. _Funny. Fucking tube lizard thinks he can take me out. I'd almost like to try it, just to see..._

The roar from an enraged "Pure Krogan" drew her attention from the bodies of her welcome party, towards the door. She watched as the young male stormed down the hallway like a freighter on auto pilot cruising through an asteroid belt. One direction, no alteration, and unstoppable. The squad of soldiers that he was charging raised assault rifles and opened fire, about two seconds before two of them were crushed under the force of three hundred and fifty pounds worth of Krogan muscle. Four hundred and twenty five, she figured, if you counted the armor. Those who had survived the first charge continued to fire, panicked shots sparking brightly as they bounced off of one part of his armor or another, while some actually landed on flesh. Grunt seemed unmoved by it, however. One sharp eyebrow was raised as she watched one of them aim directly for his face and click off a few rounds before meeting his end in a messy blast from the Krogan's own shotgun. This was followed by another, and another. He stood in place for a moment as his shotgun breathed fire on four suits of white armor, while his body blocked them from doing anything but running in the other direction.

As she moved closer, it wasn't hard to see that he was not indestructible, though he sure as fuck looked it at the moment. Blood oozed from various bullet wounds on his face, neck and arms. She was treated to actually seeing some created, as the thick hide that covered his neck was dented and a sharp slapping sound was heard before a fresh hole appeared. He hardly blinked, and when the soldiers were out of the effective rang of his shotgun, another growl started to rise in his throat. She watched with grudged admiration as he charged to close the distance, one fleeing solider caught in his steps to be crushed under massive booted feet. The bump in the road didn't slow him down, however. Deciding it was about time that she helped out, one retreating human was caught in mid step and lifted from the ground to float helplessly. She grinned as she imagined the last thoughts running through his mind as he shit his pants in the last second before having half of the bones in his body broken by the impact of pure Krogan power.

She had to be honest. She had fought against, and with a lot of Krogan. Street gangs, criminal syndicates, pirate crews. She had seen all shapes and sizes of Krogan. And while he was not the largest she had ever encountered, he was the strongest. The most perfect. Pure. All of the bullshit he spouted about being a perfect Krogan, she was seeing first hand just how right he had been. Especially when he turned to face her, a grin on his now wound free face. _Son of a bitch. He's a freak. Never seen anything regenerate that fast, except Vorcha. And they_ are _fucking freaks._

A freak, maybe. She had nothing against freaks. It would be a line of bullshit anyway, because most people she had met considered her to be a freak in her own right after spending anything more than twenty four hours with her.

All of her thoughts were cut short when the wall beside her split open, revealing more white. A lot of white. Ten feet of massive white with a single red eye, and a really large set of guns... _Fuck fuck fuck!_

"Heavy incoming!" Knowing that her biotics would be worthless against over a ton of heavy armor and shields to match it, she turned to find any form of cover as she whipped her shotgun around to fire a few blasts as the whirl of the mini gun followed her.

Slipping into cover around some crates (why did they always leave crates out in the middle of the damned hallway in places like this?) she was ready to shout an idea for how to blow the mech to kingdom come over the sound of bullets spraying the wall beside her when a joyful roar filled her ears. Wide eyed, she glanced around cover to see Grunt in a full on charge towards the machine. Being a machine, and being un-phased by the charging Krogan allowed it to swing it's gun to bear on its new assailant, peppering the young male in a hail of bullets that stopped his charge dead in it's tracks, and drove him to one knee.

Cursing up a storm, Jack knew that Shepard would be pissed if she just left the Krogan to die, so she prepared to join the fray if only to distract the mech before it could pop Grunt's head with a missile. She never had the chance to break cover, as the moment the mech stopped fire with it's mini gun to switch to that missile, Grunt was back on his feet as if he had never lost stride to begin with. Eyes blazing with battle lust and no small amount of what she would have sworn was simple pleasure, he completed his charge full force just as the bot fired off the missile. Close range, the projectile just barely glanced off Grunt's shoulder and continued onward as the Krogan slammed head first into the mech, causing over a ton of durasteel and firepower to stumble back a step. Not about to loose the advantage, the young warrior gripped the arm that held the mini gun in both hands and yanked forward while driving his massive foot into it's knee joint. The force of the blow made heavy metal look like aluminum for all the resistance it gave, and the mech stumbled forward far enough for Grunt to shove his shotgun right into the glowing point of light in the center of it's head. The gun roared, as did the krogan who held it as lights and circuits and a VI brain that kept them all working was blasted into the back of it's heavily armored head.

It took Jack a minute to realize that her jaw was hanging open as she watched the Heavy twitch once, jerk twice, and then slump forward with a loud crash. It was like watching destruction given the body of a Krogan. _That was... Holy fuck. Ho-Lee Fuck. That actually made me horny. God damn it._

Trying her damnedest to ignore the fact that heat had bloomed between her thighs as she had watched Grunt totally brutalize the poor, helpless deadly-on-a-bad-day mech, she finally managed to snapped her mouth closed when Grunt ran past her and ducked behind the wall beside a second before the mech's power core went critical. Staying behind cover as the area around them was showered with fire and shrapnel, Jack turned her eyes to the Krogan beside her. He was grinning ear to ear, if he had any damned ears, and was obviously having the time of his life. His massive chest rose and fell within his armor, his arms flexed as he gripped his shotgun as if pondering the idea of shooting the wall just to be shooting something, and those slitted blue eyes were focused on her in such a way that the lust coursing through her body was making it hard to think about much of anything but Krogan cock.

She managed to glower at him as his eyes refused to move from her, and turned to face him once debree stopped raining down on the area. She wanted to wipe that smug look off his face, almost as much as she wanted to... _Jesus H Christ, stop thinking about the size of his...Damn, it must be huge. Damn it. Damn it. Kill more Cerberus dogs, then a cold shower. A fucking ice shower. I can't believe I'm even...  
_

"Stop looking at me like that, damn it. I might think you want to fuck me or something," she grumbled as she turned away from him to glance around the corner. All clear...

"I do," was his rumbled reply.

A shocking thrill ran through her as she whipped around to face him, both brows shooting up as her painted mouth opened. Whatever she had been planning to say was lost as she considered the look on his face again. Finally, folding her arms over her chest she looked up at him with a smirk on her lips. "You want to fuck me?"

"Repeatedly."

Her eyes narrowed on him, and she at least managed to keep herself from dropping to her knees and fishing through his armor to see just how big the cock of a "Pure Krogan" was. His honest, direct answers stunned her as much as they made her body suddenly ache. Human, Turian, Batarian. Didn't matter the species, they always pussy footed around the subject. Played games, with the body and the mind, until they were finished and had what they wanted. Then they lied about their reasons to get laid again, or lied about some reason they couldn't do it again. But he had been born in a tank. Could they even teach someone how to lie inside of a tank? She wouldn't even pretend to know, but she would ask.

"Do you even know how to lie? Cheat? At least be fucking polite?"

He turned to face her, a frown marring his large mouth for a moment before he huffed slightly. He looked... Offended. "I know what it means to lie, but I see no reason for it. Lies are for the weak. For those who don't believe they are strong enough to simply take what they want, or fear what the truth will cause." She refused to take a step back, even when he leaned down. Far enough so that they were face to face, and those huge blue eyes were burning into her. The rumble that rolled within his voice... She could actually feel the vibration it carried against her skin when he spoke his next words. "Do I _look_ like I am weak, or fear anything?"

She hadn't backed down, for any reason, in years. They had almost had to kill her to take her into custody, and even then it had taken fifteen men and a sniper firing tranquilizer rounds to bring her down. She had faced Collectors and not flinched, been subjected to abuses that would have left most whimpering wads of worthless flesh. Had been experimented on, beaten, raped, frozen, betrayed. But she had not backed down, or shrunk away from anything.

And she wasn't about to start now.

Meeting his gaze, she kept her stance in front of the male that was twice her size, nearly three times her mass, and seemed to enjoy turning Heavy Mechs into scrap with one shot from his shotgun and a lot of raw power. "We're on a mission. Let's get moving." As she turned to walk away, muttering 'fucking gecko' under her breath, she realized from the grin that had returned to his face that he knew exactly what had just happened.

She had not told him no.

_Shit._


	2. Equal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two! I had a ball writing this one. I found it amazingly easy to meld their characters. I'm shocked no one else has done so before now, because really... Just read, you'll see. I feel that this is very in character for both of them.
> 
> And have I mentioned yet that I love Grunt and Jack? ::Grin::
> 
> Oh, and none of this belongs to me, blah blah, Bioware is awesome because all characters and such belongs to them, etc etc.

"There was a problem on our side," Shepard reported as they settled into a now abandoned hallway of the Cerberus base. "Everyone is fine. Unfortunately, we were forced to make a quick evac with the Collector tech in an already damaged shuttle. Repairs are underway, but it will be at least twenty four hours before we have the shuttle up and running. We will be withdrawing the Normandy to the nearby moon in case Cerberus decides to send a ship to investigate, and return to extract as soon as possible."

"Well, fuck me sideways," Jack grumbled. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she wasn't worried that she would be left behind even if things had not gone as planned. It was an... Odd feeling. Though nothing like the one she was getting as Grunt's eyes bored into her back after she mentioned being fucked sideways. "Fine, fine. I'm sure we can find something down here to keep us busy until then. Jack out."

She spun on her heel to face the large male behind her, her eyes focused on his face. Something that required her to look up at a very steep angle. "You have something to comment on, asshole? Do you still have it stuck in your head that you want to fuck me 'repeatedly?'"

She watched as his eyes strayed over hers even as she spoke, to focus on... Her head? _The fuck?_ A frown marred her lips as she reached up and pressed her hands against his chest, or the metal armor that covered the chest anyway, and gave him a sharp, unfriendly shove that moved him about 1/10th of an inch. "Pay attention to me when I'm trying to yell at you, damn it!"

His eyes returned to her eyes, and she knew that she had his full attention again when his mouth turned into a very Krogan sort of grin before the thunderous sound of his voice rolled out. "Yes. And it is not simply 'stuck in my mind.' It is something that I have every intention of doing." Her eyes narrowed sharply, and she was ready to kick some 'pure Krogan' ass if he was planning on... "You are the only human female I have seen who removes her hair. Why?"

Blinking once with a face that was instantly blank of expression for lack of anything to feel about his question, Jack stared at him in silence for a moment before she frowned again. Back to the question at hand. "Wait a minute. Back to what you just said. Are you telling me that if I don't want to fuck you, you're going to force me? Are you going to try to rape me? Because try is the operative word in that sentence, motherfucker."

It wasn't hard to see when he was thinking something over. His eyes grew distant, and moved from side to side as it he were reading a book. She wondered if all tank bred lizards did that, or if they were even hatched with enough brains in their heads to care to think for as long as he sometimes did. When they focused again, a few seconds later, he set his gaze on her again. "Rape; a human word, meaning to forcefully mate with another against their will. I have no intention of doing anything against your will."

Great, she was standing in front of a walking intergalactic dictionary. A massive, tank like dictionary. Who had taken out a Heavy mech in less time than it took most people pull on a pair of boots, and had looked good and awesome while doing so. _Focus, Jack. Eyes on something other than the lizards muscles. Maybe there is something left to kill._

"Alright, fine. You're not planning on raping me, but you have 'every intention' of fucking me." Her arms folded across her chest as she focused her eyes on his again. Neither one of them broke the gaze this time, both of them studying the other on different levels. "How does that work? Hm? Going to woo me with Krogan poetry? Bring me the heads of fifty Cerberus lap dogs in a sack to prove your intentions? What if I say no?" _  
_

His eyes scanned her face for a moment as she spoke, and she could tell that he was considering what she said. He drew himself up, and seemed to grow by a foot in doing so as his chin rose in defiance, or pride. She couldn't tell which. "You haven't."

"Haven't w... Oh." Pursing her lips for a moment as she looked up at him, she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. You want to hear me say it? I haven't said no because I'm not sure 'no' is the answer I want to give. You're... Fuck, you're amazing. You dismantled that mech almost bare handed, and the soldiers couldn't run fast enough. You got me wet, is that what you wanted to hear? I was wondering how big your cock was, and was almost squirming in place when you told me that you wanted to fuck me repeatedly. Happy? God damn, I'll paint you a fucking picture next time, ok?" Growling in her own human way, she spun around and stormed down the hallway in search of something to kill.

It was impossible not to realize that he was following her, considering the fact that he had as much stealth as a thresher maw in heat. She was not blushing, she was flushed with anger. She was breathing fast because she was walking fast. And she was feeling horny again because... Because...

"Humans are confusing," she heard him grumble in that insanely deep voice of his from behind her.

"No shit? What makes you say that, genius?" Not that she needed him to continue talking. Every word he said made lust crawl over her skin until it reached the center of her legs. No wonder Shepard always talking about the turian growling in her ear.

"You mentioned lying before," he continued, now closer to her than he was when he had started to talk. "I told you what my thoughts were on the matter, and yet you lie to yourself. Why?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, the stop so sudden that he came very close to running into her back. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

Blue eyes watched her, narrowed to tight slits as he studied her anger for a moment before he replied. "You admit to me moments ago that my actions and my abilities as a warrior arouse you. And yet you walk away, as if you are forbidden from mating with me. Why? Because I am Krogan, and you are human? Is there a social taboo that prevents you from answering your instinct?"

"What? Fuck that. Like I give a fuck what society thinks," she sneered at his words as she turned to face him full again. "I'm a criminal, mass murderer, thief, pirate. Everything humanity considers wrong I was doing everyday, usually after breakfast. My life after Cerberus has been nothing but one stupid law and taboo broken after another. And I loved every crazy assed minute of it."

"Then why?" He seemed frustrated. Aggravated, and turned from her so that he could pace the too narrow hallway as he spoke. "Mating was a part of my imprint within the tank, but only with Krogan females, and I have yet to have the opportunity to return home to experience them. There must be something missing. You want me, but you turn and run..."

"I am not fucking running!" she snarled, storming towards him with blue light flaring around her so brilliantly that he was forced to squint to look at her directly as she snarled at him. "You don't understand anything, kid. Not one fucking thing! From the second I escaped from Cerberus, everyone has wanted something from me. They take it, or they lie to you to get it. You can't trust anyone, you can't give anything to anyone and not expect them to take more. I was an experiment to be locked in a tiny room when I wasn't being tortured, I was a fuck toy for a pair of 'friends' who left me to the fucking dogs when they were finished with me, I was a bathroom plaything to guards and inmates in prison. I've been bait, I've been a punching bag, I've been a cock warmer for a merc was five jumps away from his wife, and I..."

Her words died as she suddenly realized what he had just said to her. "Wait a minute... You're a cherry?"

She saw his heavy brow wrinkle for a moment, followed by a frown. "I am... A round red fruit?"

She hardly managed to contain the laughter that threatened to erupt at that. "No, no idiot. You're a virgin."

That word he seemed to clearly understand, and a heavy gruff of air was released as he nodded his agreement to her question.

"Gah!" Crying out in exasperation, she flung her arms into the air and stalked off down the hallway again. "Here I am, arguing with a god damned Krogan virgin about why I may or may not want to fuck him! Good one, Jack. Just great. Add that to your list of 'things most fucking people will never even think about doing that you've done.'"

"You speak of your past as if it were a bad thing."

Again, she was stopped dead in her tracks by his words. Turning slowly, she set eyes on him in a glare that could have melted rock. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What would you call it?"

"I would call it what made you who you are now," he countered without flinching away from her glare. In fact, he started to move towards her as he spoke. "An Angel of Death. You are what most Krogan aspire to become. Unflinching, unstoppable, fearsome! Like the storm that uproots the trees and tears down the shelter of the weak. Seeing you shed the blood of our enemies started a fire in my belly that even battle has been unable to quench."

She stared at him now, uncertain. His words were... Different. There was no pity. No pity at all. She _hated_ pity. Everyone who had ever heard about her past wanted to shower her with it, wanted to feel bad for 'Poor Jack. She's had such a hard life,' ignoring the fact that she wanted nothing more than to be beyond the past where she had been unable to fight back. That was why she struggled so hard, and that was why she fought against everything and everyone that would use her. She never wanted to be weak, helpless Jack again.

"I was grown in a tank, sealed within as I was bombarded with images and words that were not my own to make me into the perfect Krogan warrior..."

_"This room is your home now, and your name is Subject Zero. This program will turn you into the perfect weapon."_

"Every time I meet with my own kind, I am reminded of that fact as if that is what defines me as a Krogan."

_"Fucking freak. You think the fact that you're some 'super biotic' will keep me from making use of that pretty ass of yours?"_

"And every time I meet my own kind, I sweep aside those unworthy of my notice while showing those of strength that I _am_ a pure Krogan."

_"Jack, welcome to Purgatory. I've heard of your last escape, and the fact that you killed ten guards while doing so. I won't make the same mistake."_

"Seeing you in battle, and knowing what made you as you are now shows me that I can do the same." Damn it, why did he have to keep talking? "That is why Shepard accepted us. People of strength gravitate to Shepard, because she fights with reason, her foes are unstoppable to most, and her battles are worthy of Krogan legend. But she needs people like us to join her. Because we are powerful. Because we can fight beside her and not be left behind. Because _we are strong."_

She was breathing heavily as she listened to his words, his eyes never leaving his face as he spoke. The conviction, the passion in everything he said was stupefying. As if no one in the galaxy has a right to disagree with him.

She never wanted to be the weak, vulnerable girl who had been unable to defend herself again. And here was a Krogan, a pure Krogan who could grin after being pelted with mini gun fire and treated Heavy mechs like just another merc to step on, telling her that he was inspired by her. That Shepard chose them because they were strong. _She_ was strong.

_Don't you dare cry, Jack. Don't fucking dare cry after that._

Reaching towards him, she linked her small hand around his massive bicep and started to lead him down the hallway. He did not resist, following her as she made her way down the hall, glancing at the signs and room number on the doors they passed. After a moment, he finally spoke. "Where are we going?"

Casting a glance in his direction, she tried to keep her face unreadable as she replied to his question. "We're going to need more space when you fuck me." When she saw a sparkle of passion flare in his eyes that was impossible to miss even if he was Krogan, she smirked as she added, "Repeatedly."

* * *

Something was different, he knew. He was not sure what he had said, or done, but she had been looking at him as he had never seen her look at anyone save Shepard before. She was looking at him as though she trusted him. Even as he allowed himself to be pulled through the hallways of the Cerberus compound, his mind was working over the things he had told her, trying to pinpoint what might have brought about this change in her. Whatever it had been, he wanted to know it. Wanted to understand it, so that he could hold onto that trust he saw in her eyes now. For a female with such strength, such power to trust him was like being handed a rocket launcher that never ran out of rockets. It was something that would have to be pried from his cold, dead hands before he would let it go.

But even as he tried to focus, he was distracted at every turn. She seemed anxious now, full of energy, cursing to herself as none of the doors seemed to be the one she was looking for. She was eager. She was aroused, also. He could smell it in the air around her. The excitement of battle gave her a different scent, the scent of sweat, blood, and ozone. This scent was pungent in it's own way, sweet in another. He had smelled something very similar while observing Shepard and the turian engaged in verbal 'foreplay', as the annoying red haired woman called it. The same scent could be attributed to Kelly herself, every time she was around the brightly colored assassin, and Miranda when she was not caught staring at Jacob's rear end. Humans, it seemed, were an all together easily aroused species.

But the scent had never affected him the way hers was affecting him now. Perhaps because of who she was, and the knowledge that it would lead to mating. Mating with him. A gruff sound escaped him against his will, when that realization seemed to settle and his gut twisted for a moment. What an... Odd sensation. He had never known anything quite like it, and he was not certain if he enjoyed it, hated it, or was embraced by it. He did know that the sound it had caused had drawn her attention to him, as well as the dark eyes behind which he could see what he hoped was lust. "Don't tell me the bad ass perfect Krogan is nervous about getting some ass for the first time."

He released a soft snort, but did not reply to her right away. Was he? Nervous? On edge, rate of breathing increased, heart-rate high, twisting feeling in the gut... "I am. Nervous, I think. I have never felt anything like this before."

She seemed ready to pause and continued speaking on the subject, but stopped next to a door with a wide grin parting her dark painted mouth. "Finally! Fuck, you would think these assholes would have more medbays as often as they like to play god."

Medbay? He followed her into the room, and looked around at the empty and dimly lit room for a moment in silence. It was large enough. And there were various beds. But they had passed many rooms before this one, some larger with more bedding. So why had she picked this? Did she fear some injury? Frowning as she released his arm and moved across the room, he watched her for a moment as she opened some of the storage drawers and started searching for something. If it was injury she feared, there was an ample supply of medigel on the wall. "What are you looking for?"

"They better fucking have some..." Talking to herself, without answering his questions for a moment as she tossed containers of various medicine onto the floor, she seemed engrossed in the hunt for whatever it was she was looking for. "Ah! Here it is! What the fuck, Krogan. Get away from the fucking door and come in here. Are you going to fuck me or not? Or are you too 'nervous'?"

The last bit had been spoken with such sarcastic challenge in her voice, not to mention the fact that she had turned and waved her ass at him while doing so, that he could not restrain the growl that rose in his voice as he crossed the threshold into the room and stormed towards her. How dare she taunt him? She... Swift anger died a swift death when she held a clear bottle in front of his face, the tiny letters on the side facing him making him pause. "Lubricant?"

"You're damned straight lubricant. If you're anywhere near as big as I am thinking you are, this is going to hurt like a motherfucker." His eyes returned to her as she lowered the bottle, and started to walk around him now. The fact that she had said that with such pleasure in her voice made his cock harden his his armor before he could manage the will to stop it. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but he did not complain. Krogans did not complain. They were not above being startled at times, though. As he was when he heard the pressure seal that kept his armor locked firmly into place released with a sharp hiss, followed by the click of the various clasps that held it on.

His stomach rolled. He still was not sure if he liked being nervous.

* * *

The fact that he was twice her size should have prepared her for it. It had not. The second the armor that covered him clicked off, and she pulled the first plate aside while he handled the second in front, _he_ was let out. " _Fuck_. What the fuck, Grunt? You're a walking cock. What did they feed you in that tank?"

She was no virgin, not by any stretch of the imagination. She had seen a lot of men, a lot of sizes, even a turian once, and had taken more than one at a time just as often as dealing with one. But she had never expected anything like... This. She wasn't going to rush to grab something to check the exact length, but she wasn't even sure she wanted to know. She knew that he was huge. And odd looking. Certainly more turian than human, but smoother at the same time. There was not a single ridge, bump, or even a wrinkle that she could see. And it was all as clear as day, given the fact the already slick looking shaft was a striking shade of crimson. Her tongue ran slowly over her upper lips for a moment as she stared at him, wondering what to do next.

There went her ever calling him a "baby Krogan" again.

Shaking her head to clear it for a moment, she turned her eyes up to him. Her awe was apparently obvious to him, because his mouth was turned upward in a self satisfied smirk. Cocky asshole. Not that she would comment on it, because he had every right to be cocky. Cocksure. Cock obsessed. Anything dealing with the word cock, he owned in her opinion.

And if the very fact of his size frightened her? It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because she was on fire. Maybe she was a freak, because just looking at something that purely _male_ had her nearly dripping down her own thighs. _Shit. To hell with it. You only live once._ With that fact in mind, she took a step away from him while untying the make shift belt around her pants. She was slow about it, as she took a moment to drink in the rest of his body. Heavy armor, thick hide, muscles that would have made Mr. Universe look like a pussy. The only thing about him that was even remotely human was the fact that he stood upright on two legs and had two arms. Other than that, from the grayish white armor that ran the length of his head, neck and back to the size of his dick, there was nothing about him that was not Krogan. Pure. Perfect. Krogan.

And he wanted her as much as she wanted him, which was obvious. He throbbed when she slipped her pants down, and yanked them from her ankles and over her boots which she left on. His gaze traveled the length of her body, grazed over every tattoo, and she stood there and allowed him to do it. Watched as his nostrils flared slightly, sucking the scent of her lust from the air and releasing each breath in a throaty growl that sent shivers down her spine and caused her sex to throb. It didn't matter how big he was, she was going to get fucked. Cheek on the floor, ass in the air. Arms around his neck, thighs spread painfully wide around him. Laying on her side, watching him thrust into her. Bend her over the doctors desk and break it while nailing her for all she cared. However it happened, it was going to happen.

And standing there staring at each other like a bunch of kids was not going to make it happen any faster, so she made the first move. She was well beyond foreplay, and she wasn't exactly interested in making out with him at this point in time, so she went for the good from the start. The bottle of lubrication she still held was lifted in one hand, and the cap tossed aside as she looked up at him. Her eyes sparkled, and she smirked as he met her gaze and growled when she upturned the vial of clear liquid onto the tapered tip of his length. Grinning like the mad woman she often was, she turned her eyes away from his and watched the glistening path it made before she slipped her other hand up to cup the underside. He was warm to the touch, and his cock jumped eagerly in her hand as she started to work the oily substance over the entire length of him. She took her sweet time about it, too. Watching the reactions to her hand as she cupped the base, and after tossing the bottle aside, used her other hand to wrap around and easily slide up and down the tip. Grinning again, as the male in front of her grunted sharply with a sharp intake of breath every time she reached the tip again, she knew he wasn't going to last long. A virgin man, even a bad ass virgin, almost always walked around with a hair trigger.

And as horny as she was right then, she couldn't stop herself from pulling it. Wrapping both hands tightly around the length as she pushed herself closer to him, trapping his cock between them as she increased the pace. Feeling the coarse, thick, leathery hide that covered his chest as she pushed in close enough to growl as only she could before she parted her lips and bit him as hard as she could in the tender spot under his chin. And that was all it took. Had she not been expecting something like it, the roar would have startled her. It echoed through the room, as she felt hands that were anything but gentle grip her shoulders hard enough for her bones to groan in protest. But what she really felt was the sudden jerk of the cock pressed against her bare chest. She never was one to regret the fact that she was flat up top, but the way her nipples tingled when she felt the first eruption of semen between their bodies almost had her thinking about it. Almost. In no time, the growling male had unloaded everything she was going to get from this orgasm onto her chest and belly, as if it were not enough. She was drenched, in more ways that one. Breathing hard, with a vice like grip on his shaft as she ground herself against him slowly, feeling the need in such a potent ache between her thighs, she likely needed something as huge as he was to prevent her from going into a homicidal rage of lust.

"I know that's not all you've got. So, are you going to..."

* * *

He had never felt anything like it. The lust of battle, the pleasure of a kill, the thrill of victory. It was little wonder his species was so obsessed with the act of mating, even before the genophage. Such small hands, capable of so much destruction. So warm, skilled and slick. His mind went blank from the moment she wrapped her other hand around him, causing the length of his cock to violently throb in response. His body was on it's own power from then on, and while the feeling of being powerless was somewhat disconcerting, the feeling of having her pressed against him made him forget all about it. Snarling the moment she arched herself against him, and roaring at the wave of pleasure that went right to his quad when she bit into the softer flesh of his throat. Foolish to be so vulnerable, even to a female who...

Orgasm was even more intense than any description he had read about. Like a painful ache that he had not been aware existed was suddenly released in a form of pleasure that made all others seem obsolete. The smooth flesh of the human in front of him was quickly saturated in his release, and he was only dully aware of the fact that he was holding into her shoulders hard enough to bruise her. The feel of her against him, with her hands still slowly pumping along the length of him, and her scent... Her scent was incredible now. While alluring and arousing before, he was nearly driven mad with the lust it caused to boil within his blood now. Familiar acceptance of her as a mate, drove his hormones higher. He wasn't really thinking as he heard her begin to speak, and was certainly not thinking clearly enough to realize what she was saying. So he did not allow her to finish whatever it was.

The grip on her shoulders was all he needed to lift her from the ground, realizing how light she was by how easy it was to turn her around before she had time to recover. The nearest object of correctable height... A desk. He heard the grunt of pain that left her when he shoved her over that desk, a position that left her hardly enough ground for boots to touch the ground. Drawing himself up behind her, a throaty rumble rising in his chest as he stared down at her. She was tiny. Smooth skin, slender limbs, a round fleshy rear; even covered with tattoos she seemed fragile and weak. The pink slit between her legs, and the glisten of wetness that he saw from it distracted him long enough for her to start shoving objects from the top of the desk. Pads, a globe of some kind, a picture. Anything that could have gotten in their way. She was as ready as he was, and as his hands slammed onto the desk at either side of her shoulders, she shifted her feet across the ground to part her legs, granting him undaunted access to her body. But still...

He hesitated. If he harmed her, it would be an act of great dishonor. He could not...

"You'd better fuck me like you mean it, Krogan."

Slitted blue eyes turned to focus on the human female, and the fact that she was laid out over the desk with her legs spread to allow him access. But one eye was settled on him, shimmering. A tear? Was she..?

"Don't you dare go soft on me now," she growled at him, her voice wavering even as she made demands of him. "You told me that I am strong; you made me believe you! Now you're going to prove it, and not treat me like some fragile girl you need to protect! Fuck me like an equal, god damn it! Make me believe you!"

She was screaming, furious with him for his hesitation. Understanding came over him at the same time as lust, and the lust won out. He would not disappoint her, this Angel of Death. Rumbling throatily in reply to her, his hands left the desk: one gripping her shoulder, and the other grasping her hips tightly enough to make her wince. Both were used to steady her as he adjusted his hips until the tip of his cock felt the slick heat of her folds. He heard her sob a moan in reply, and the power of both limbs and her hips silenced her as he drove himself forward. The amazing heat of her was made doubly so by the fact that she was like a vice around him, so tight and so tiny that it was almost painful to be within her. But that in itself was a pleasure, enough so that he was un-phased by the scream that was torn from her throat when his hips slammed into the flesh of her ass.

And he did not hesitate to rut with her. Withdrawing until only the tip remained within her, he thrust again with enough strength to cause the desk to rock under them. Two thrusts only, and the skin seen through the tattoos covering her rear was a bright pink from the harsh treatment. His eyes darting from one of her hands to the next as she gripped the far edge of the desk tightly enough to cause her knuckled to crack, but still he drove forward again as a cry was torn from her throat. He was strained, between two things that pulled him with equal strength. His lust for her, consuming almost all rational thought as his body rippled with every thrust of their mating. The other, concern for her despite her words. So far he had only heard her scream, cry out, and watched as she showed signs that he knew meant pain in humans. Was he damaging her? Truly harming her would have...

And then, he heard it. A throaty sound escaped her now, still strained but different. A moan as he bucked his hips against her again, sheathing the full length of his cock within her with determined strain in every inch of his body. That moan was followed by another, and then a soft whimper as he watched her knuckled relax on the edge of the desk. Relax, only to have her fingers curve as she clawed at the surface while she arched her feet to raise her hips to meet him. "Yesss..."

There was no species that would not have understood the meaning of that word, not as she had spoken it. Grunting sharply, he felt the inner walls of her sex squeeze down around him suddenly, making an already painfully tight body almost unbearable. Her scent increased, her body went ridged, her folds seemed to move over him in waves, and a heavy flush overcame the skin along her back and shoulders as she screamed again. But a scream of another sort, and he was treated to the delight of watching her writhe like fish trapped on land. Her hands beat the desk, and painted lips pulled back in a grimace as she came around him with sudden force.

It was such a crazy, simple pleasure knowing that she had cum because of his prowess as a lover that he was only a few seconds behind her in reaching his second orgasm. The flood of his release was swift to overcome what her tight sex would accept, but he was unaware of the mixture of their juices that escaped between them as he growled and shivered in delight. She was everything he had not expected. She was better, the pleasure intense, the scent of her saturating his mind with lust even in the afterglow. Absent thoughts allowed him to realize that sometime during the course of their mating, the desk had been pushed forward until he had wedged a chair between itself and the wall. Both of them were breathing deeply, both were soaked in each others scents, she was bruised from her shoulders to her hips, and he was left wondering if she could take him again so soon. He was more than ready to give more, and was hard enough within her to prove it.

When she mumbled something, he had to strain to hear her. Still he missed what she had said until he leaned closer to her, breathing deeply at the scent of sweat, sex, and ozone that lingered on her shoulders and neck as he mumbled. "What?"

Turning her head, so that her forehead was no longer pressed into the desk, the flushed woman looked over her shoulder at the Krogan. She looked tired, but was smirking at the same time with a spark of challenge in her eyes. "Next round, I'm on top."

* * *

"Jack, Grunt. Good job down there. We hardly saw any Cerberus soldiers during the extraction," Shepard praised as she greeted them just outside of the shuttle. "We were not expecting them to have active Scions, however."

"Yeah, whatever," Jack shrugged as she walked towards Shepard. Again, realizing that she had trusted this woman enough not to worry when they had been left on the planet alone was surprising to her. But she accepted it, even though that didn't mean she was going to get all mushy and friendly with her. "Me and the tube lizard had enough down there to keep us busy. I enjoyed the chance to fuck up some Cerberus lap dogs, anyway."

Shepard couldn't help but grin at the seemingly uncaring way Jack nodded to her, and then strolled past with Grunt exiting the shuttle a moment later. "It was a battle worthy of a Krogan, Shepard. Not so glorious as the Collector base, but worthy none the less."

Shaking her head with the same grin, her eyes grew concerned when she noticed that Jack was limping on her left leg as she walked. "Jack, are you wounded? Let the doctor have a look at that leg."

Jack paused long enough to look back at Shepard, while trying her best to ignore the fact that Grunt was grinning like a (huge, sexy) kid as he strolled past her. She sniffed once. "Nah, I'm fine. Nothing a little rest won't fix."

 _"Aw, did Jack get hurt by the big bad Cerberus dogs?"_ Joker's voice cut in, causing Jack to scowl up at the disembodied voice. _"I'm sowwy Jack. How are you feeling, sweety?"_

The overly concerned, sweet voice was dripping with enough sarcasm to make even Shepard roll her eyes. Jack on the other hand seemed to consider the question for a moment, before she grinned wickedly towards the Krogan standing beside her. "Like I've just been fucked by a Krogan."

The stunned silence that followed was only broken a moment later when Grunt put in his two cents on the matter. "Repeatedly."

Shepard was left to stare at the two of them, with her mouth dropped open and her eyes wide as they walked towards the elevator. Chatting as they went.

"So, your place or mine next time?"

"Mm.. The cargo bay is large enough, but there are no beds to speak of. Or desks."

"Pffh. Like I fucking care. But why not my bed? Needs to be broken in."

"I don't know if the others in engineering will agree. You are vocal."

"Fuck 'em. And don't talk to me about being vocal, bastard. My ears are still ringing..."

As their voices faded out, Shepard was finally snapped out of her shock when Joker finally seemed to find his voice.

 _"Ow._ Ow _. That hurt my brain."_


	3. No Others

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a Grunt/Jack fic, so do not expect fluffy bunnies and kitties playing under a rainbow. Expect the following: Bad Language. Rude behavior. And lots (and I do mean LOTS) of rough, hot, eye melting, flesh to scale slapping inter-species sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to review! Reviews are like crack, and all authors are addicts.

 

London, Earth

Two weeks After Synthesis

Biotic teens. Once, they had been the biggest group of pussies in the known universe. Always whining about being hungry after training. Always trying to convince their instructor that they were trying their best even when their best was absolute shit. Always looking hurt when she told them that if their best didn't get a lot better, they were going to die a horrible death at the hands of the Reapers. And they were still pussies in a lot of ways, if she choose to look past the fact that they had rained death from above on those very same Reapers with 'biotic artillery strikes' of enough viciousness and force that it had almost brought a tear to her eyes every time she watched a perfectly times warp explosion rip some twisted Reaper freak to bloody shreds. She had even allowed them to congratulatory high fives and back slaps of a job well done before reminding them that she could produce an explosion three times bigger, in a third of the time. "So take off your girl panties, tuck them in your lockers, and remember to watch your fucking barriers!"

Of course, at the time she had no way of knowing that the fucking war would be ending less than an hour later. If she had, she might not have allowed her language restriction around the kids to slip away so clearly. Not that she really gave two shits either way: they were adults now. They had killed in battle, been wounded and bled (most of them anyway) and she was pretty sure that none of them were virgins after she had taken them drinking on their last night before shipping out. She remembered with some pride and amusement that she had actually stormed into Prangley's room after hearing what sounded like a fight and found him doing his level best to fuck the shit out of Rodriguez, who had been face down over a table naked as the day she was born. And from the noises being made in the process, both of them moaning, groaning, Rodriguez crying out, and the wet slap of sweaty man against sweaty woman, he had been doing a damned fine job of it, too. Lucky for them, Jack had simply smirked and left them to it for another fifteen minutes while she roused the other soon to become soldiers.

Soldiers they may have been, but that had not made it easier for her to watch them load up into the transport that would take them to a proper Alliance military training facility now that it was clear the Reaper threat was over. Even she, ever the pessimist and raging bitch in battle, knew it was actually over. The light blue, occasionally glowing wired crap that covered her body had something to do with that. Everyone understood it, and everyone accepted it. It hadn't changed much beyond the reaction that people were having to the Reapers, or the reaction that the Reapers were having toward "organics" if they could even really be called that anymore.

Beyond that, it didn't seem that much at all had changed. She felt human, or as human as she ever felt. Her biotics were still fully functional, she could still smell the ozone and ash of the burned city around her, she still got hungry and thirsty, still got drunk and she still needed to piss the morning after. So yes, she was still Jack. She was absolutely sure of that when some Turian officer, too far from his own women and drunk off his boney ass in celebration for common since, had mistaken her for an easy mark or a quick lay… Until she had put his hard head through a cinder block wall to make sure he understood what "Fuck off, bird boy" meant. He had gotten the point, and so had the rest of his squad, who left her unmolested as the glowing blue vortex of annoyed human had stalked away. It wasn't that she felt bad about the incident, but Jack knew that it was not the Turian's fault. Not that it was her fault that he had felt the need to put his three fingered hand on her ass, or make rude comments about how soft she was, and how he would like to get a feel of the rest of her. It was that she had actually felt a little tingle between her legs from the unwanted attention.

_Fucking deep voices. God damn it, Jack, you need to get laid._

It was like an itch between her shoulders that she couldn't really reach. She had not been given the chance for any real action because of the kids, though even without her teaching there had not been an abundance of partners that had caught her attention in recent months. Months, and months, and fucking _months._ Even while her entire class was off getting laid, she had been little frustrated as fuck Jack the teacher. Every male at the bar had been lacking. The pretty boy humans were too… Pretty. The less pretty Turians were to… Boney. The Drell… Well, the Drell just creeped her out with their huge eyes and tendency to stare like frogs waiting to catch a fly. Not that she had anything against any of them. She had had tangled the sheets with a few different species in the past. But they just seemed lacking now.

She told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that every one of them came up short (in more ways than one) when compared to the one man she had never really been able to get out of her crazy head. And she knew she was fucking crazy, because she even thought of that damned tube lizard as a man, and compared every man she met to _him_. Even now, stalking the streets where the allied forces of humans, Turians, and Krogan had set up miles of make shift bases in debris littered streets until ships could be sent to start repairs on the Mass Relays, she found herself comparing. Battle hardened soldiers of all species, male and female, many of which looked fully capable of giving a girl a nice, satisfying run for her money.

Of course, she found herself comparing them to Grunt. One human, with a broad chest and strong, toned arms was carrying a crate of supplies. Broad and strong? No. Grunt had twice his chest span at least, and the muscles in his arms made even the strongest human look really pathetic. And the Turian with obvious battle scars on his face. He looked mature, experienced, battle hardened, and no doubt would know exactly what to do with that battle hardened, experienced body in bed. But his features were almost delicate to her eyes, even with the sharp edges and talons for hands. Nothing like the strong, large hands, wide features, and deliciously thick tongue that made her bite her pillow at night when she realized that she might as well give up and find herself another Krogan.

Like the one she saw a block away (it had been a block, anyway. Now it was a pile of blasted rubble.) Her eyes wandered the Krogan as she closed the distance. It was one of the few times that she had seen one of them out of the battle armor that was like a second skin to the species. The reason was obvious, as the male hefted a piece of concrete that was almost as large as she was over his head, and tossed it into the back of a hauler waiting next to him. Krogan… It was little wonder she couldn't get Grunt out of her mind. The muscles under the thick hide moved like bands of iron every time the male picked up another piece of debris that would have taken a team of humans to lift. The slope of the thick crest that sloped over his head and ran down his back, something that she found unusually interesting because it would have been hideous on any other species, were not overly pronounced like she had seen on some other males Krogans. Sleek almost, like Grunts. And the coloring…

Jack felt her steps slow as she came closer to the huge male, her eyes wandering to the still armored legs. Iron grey leg plates. A color that made her eyes dart to the back of the male's head, before she darted her gaze around again and found where the rest of his armor was resting against what was left of a building. Armor that she knew how to remove, because she had removed it multiple times on and off the Normandy. _Oh fucking hell…_

The Krogan seemed to pause in mid step on his way to the next chunk of rock he intended to remove, and because she was unable to move at that moment, watched as he raised his head upward, and turned it slightly to the side. She watched his head bob up and down, and his chest rise and fall as he sniffed the air before he slowly turned to face her. _Fuck me sideways,_ was all she could think when her eyes met the metallic blue reptilian eyes, and saw his wide mouth rise in a slow grin. And then, of course, he turned and was walking towards her. All seven feet of thickly muscled raw power, with that (deliciously) wide tongue and a cock that wouldn't quit stopped in front of her. She willed her legs not to go weak when he folded his arms across his chest in a pose that screamed male, and spoke in that voice that made her pussy quiver and turned her insides into liquid lust.

"Angel."

He was the only one who called her that. His little nickname for her, because he saw her as an Angel of Death as he called it. Of course, he knew better than to let anyone else hear him call her that… So his voice was low. A low, resounding rumble of obvious pleasure at seeing her for the first time in almost a year.

"Grunt."

Her reply was soft, and sweet. And she had to give him credit. The fact that it was so soft made his eyes narrow suspiciously, the instant before she hurtled him through the nearest still standing wall.

* * *

Flying through the wall was fine. It was mostly broken anyway, so he did not feel much more than a minor impact against his naturally armored hide before it gave way and he went crashing through it. Slamming into the solid, jagged ground comprised of various types of ruble? That was less fine, and painful enough to cause him to snarl in pain when the jagged edges dug into his back. Dazed by the sudden, vicious attack, Grunt found himself unable to move for a moment. Growling low, he forced his body to move as he had done a dozen times before on the battlefield after taking a fall, and was dumbfounded when he realized that nothing seemed to work. As the haze of the impact cleared, it only took him a second to realize that the biotic attack which had thrown him was also keeping him pinned to the ground. Setting him up for the next attack, that came a breath later when a scream of rage announced the arrival of the blue glowing biotic human.

She did not run at him. She literally flew at him, over him, her fist drawn back and crackling with enough biotic energy to cause some serious damage without his armor to absorb it. He didn't question _why_ she attacked, he simply reacted to the fact that she _was_ attacking, and he focused all of his considerable strength in ripping one arm free of the invisible restraints that held him. It was a close miss, with the shower of rock that she shattered into gravel pelting his back as he managed to roll away.

Confused, and unprepared for the assault, Grunt rolled to his feet with a growl to face Jack as she did the same, though he held his hands out in front of him as an offer of peace. "What are you doing, Angel?" He kept his tone calm, and his stance as non-threatening as a Krogan could manage. He had no desire to hurt her, because she was…

"Don't call me that, you fuck! You don't ever get to call me that again!" The blue nimbus around her crackled again as she screamed at him, and he managed a roll to the side before another blast of energy from the enraged biotic slammed past him. When he came to his feet, a slow blink was his reaction to the shower of pulverized dust that rained down from where she had struck. It took only that to realize that, unarmored as he was, she might have killed him with that blast. The growled rumbled in his throat was deep and threatening as he lowered in a crouch, slitted eyes watched her closely as she paced in front of him. She looked like an enraged deity, her body radiating the force of her wrath with an intensity that he had never seen from any other biotic before her, centered in clenched fists with eyes that burned brighter than a blue sun.

She was still magnificent.

And he laughed softly. That slow, "Heh heh heh" that sometimes escaped him when he was amused, impressed, or pleased by something. Eyes scanning her, he took in the new 'look', as humans called it. She had hair, which was one of the most obvious things that had changed about her. Still, she did not wear it like any other human female he had ever seen, and he had seen plenty of them recently. No, most of her head was still shaven, save for a what looked like a tail grown down the center, and pulled tight at the back. He worked that over in his mind silently, and shifted his gaze to the rest of her. She wore more clothing, though he still noted that she lacked anything that could have been called armor even in the loosest terms. She still showed an a great deal of skin. Skin that he knew would be like silk compared to the scales of a Krogan, and salty. A low rumble rose in his throat as he remembered tasting her, a rumble that she must have heard and understood as a projectile of broken building the size of his head shot towards him, only to be easily ducked.

This time, he did not let it pass as he did the first few attacks. The thrill of battle, and the heat of lust had his Krogan heart calling for action. A grin split his mouth wide as he reached down and hefted his own missile of stone, drawing back and hurling it at her full force. He saw the smirk pass her lips as she easily swatted the annoyance aside, only to have the smirk fall as the charging Krogan followed it less than a second later. Her curses filled the air, as his Angel took the brunt force of the shoulder tackle, and that of the wall he slammed them through with a roar of triumph before gripping her around the hips with both hands and body slamming her into the rubble. Of course they both knew that without her barriers, he would have killed her in that moment, but that did not deter either of them as Grunt kept her pinned with a wild, battle crazed grin on his face as his heated eyes looked down at her.

The grin only lasted for a moment, before she shoved at him with a shockwave, one which Grunt was surprised to find he could not hold his ground against. Even though he had been prepared for her to retaliate, a whoosh of breath left his lungs as he was pushed away from her, and shoved back a good five feet before he gained his footing once more. She struck with the same force that he had, though her attack for more focused than a tackle. Pain flared through his face as her glowing fist slammed into it, and then another to his chest, and again to his face. He knew already that his attack had drained her barriers to the limit, and her biotic field was weakened by their recharge, or the blows would have hurt a lot more than they did. And they hurt a lot. All the while, though a rain of another five blows, she continued to curse at him.

* * *

"Fuck you, tube lizard! You think you can just leave without a fucking goodbye, vanish for a full year, fuck all the Krogan whores you want, and then grin at me you stupid reptile! I am not some meat sock you can…"

Her words came to an abrupt halt when one of his massive hands closed on her fist mid strike. It was not something anyone ever really wanted to do, mostly because of the sizzle that started almost immediately after he secured his grip, her super charged biotics searing through his flesh. Stunned to silence for only a moment, she snarled and lasted out with her other hand, finding that one caught as well as they glared at each other.

"Let go of me so I can keep kicking your ass!" she snarled, obviously furious though he had no idea why.

"What Krogan whores?"

The fact that she could smell the burning flesh of his hands, and the fact that he wasn't even flinching despite that fact, caused her to tone down the biotics, though not her temper. Now with her feet firmly planted in front of him, and the blue glow dissipating, she expected him to release her. Which of course, he did not. And though she heard the annoyed confusion in his tone, Jack was too pissed off to notice. "Do you think I don't know how that shit works with you Krogan? Shepard told me about your 'breeding requests' on Tuchanka, and the _minute_ the Collectors are fried and we land on the Citadel, you run off without so much as a 'Thanks for letting me bust a nut, cock sleeve. See ya!'"

She glared at him through the little rant, and yanked at her hands, which he still held in his. She could feel the un-natural heat from them, and with as much juice as she had been pouring out she was pretty sure that she had burned him badly. Not that she gave a fuck. He would heal. He always healed. Even the swelling above his eye, on his jaw, and his cheek where she had pummeled him would be healed in a matter of minutes. Still, she winced slightly when he did release her and she saw the raw burns that were well past the skin and into muscle. Then she sniffed dismissively as she pulled herself away from him, turning to stalk away. "Just… Fuck you, Grunt. Thanks for making me feel like a cum rag."

She stopped, or more precisely was stopped, when his hand gripped her wrist as he drew himself to his full height. She glared up at him, trying her best not to look impressed by the massive form of the (shirtless and fucking amazingly hot) Krogan standing over her. Any thought of pulling away was cut off when he spoke again, his voice as agitated as the look in his eyes as he glared right back at her.

"You were the one who told me that you did not like saying goodbye," he rumbled as he took a step closer to her. She refused to back down, but his words stopped her from trying to pull away. Had she told him that? It was true, but only because she had never given enough of a shit to say it. "So I did not say it. And there were no females. I was invited back to Tunchanka by my Clan Leader to lead Aralakh Company, which took all of my time until Shepard showed up. When she told me that you would be here with the Alliance, I joined the Krogan shock troops that were sent here to help the resistance."

Jack sneered at him, though there was a little flutter in her belly that she hadn't felt in… Fuck… She had never felt it, but it centered on him saying that there had been no females. "No females? At all? In a _year?_ Are you trying to tell me that I'm the only one you've… Had?" Fucking biotic kids. They had made her soft enough that she didn't want to hurt the poor Krogan's feelings if it happened to be true.

_What the fuck is wrong with you, Jack?!_

Giving a low rumble as he shifted his massive shoulders slightly, as if spoiling for another fight. "No others. Of any species."

Why he had felt the need to clarify that was beyond her, but as the flutter intensified, so did her defense against it. She turned on snarky bitch mode as she released a short, bark of a laugh. "You are so fucking full of shit!"

He seemed to consider those words for a moment. She had seen that look in his eyes before; the look that told her he was searching his Encyclopedia Kroganica for information, or maybe just remembering all of the times the humans on the Normandy had used the phrase. "Exaggerating, or… Lying." The low growl that rose in his chest almost made her take a step back, mostly because it was as angry and irritated as the hot flash of rage that heated cool blue eyes and the insult caused him to draw himself to his full height. A combination that made her feel like the tiny, slender human she was. "We have talked about this. Only the weak have need of a lie. And I am _not_ weak."

She could only stare at him in silence for a long moment, before she finally found some words.

"God damn it, tube lizard..."

* * *

_I love it when she growls,_ was a stray thought that passed through his mind as he slammed her down to the floor of the makeshift shelter. He considered how something so tiny and seemingly frail could make such a feral sound, and how it made his blood sing with lust even as she latched her teeth onto the hide of his neck while her hands wrapped around the needy length of his cock. The need for pleasure was like a physical hunger when he was this close to her, the smell of her invading his mind and altering the way he thought. And his own growl rumbled up from his chest when she shoved her combat pants down and kicked them off halfway (leaving one leg caught on her boot) parted her thighs wide around his hips, guided him into the heat between… And then she whimpered when he rolled his hips forward to meet that hot invitation; half of his deep red, throbbing length vanishing into the soaking wet but still achingly tight heat of her body.

He did not worry about harming her, though he knew that the first thrust of such a sudden and needy mating would cause her some pain. He knew that the pain was simply because he was large, and she was small. She had told him that she loved it; that she loved it because the pain added to the pleasure, and because he could fuck her like an equal despite being so damned massive. And this was no different. She did not shy away from the force of his thrust. No, she rose to meet him, her hips bucking, her whimper turned into a cry of delight as his body forced hers to accept him as he thrust again and more of him filled her. Her blunt nails did no damage when she gripped his sides, but he still felt the strength in her fingers when she pulled him to her with an urgent lust that caused his hips to move of their own accord. When they had been lovers before, they had learned many things about each other. She had taken the lead, taught him how to please a female with the slow and the soft as well as the hard and fast. Had taught him how to read her, to know when she wanted one or the other. Now, he knew exactly what she wanted because her body all but sang for him to just fuck her. Use her. The slick sound of his cock sliding into her pussy, the beat of his hips slamming into hers, the cries of pleasure that she made no attempt to muffle as the pace increased.

He half teased for a moment, slowing his pace as he nuzzled and ran his broad tongue across her throat in a slow drag that made her entire body shiver. When he kept the pace slow for longer than she could stand, she snarled at him. "Fuck me, goddamn it!" before bucking her hips against him demandingly, and sinking her teeth into the muscle of his shoulder with enough force to draw blood as she growled with desperation. The fact that she _could_ draw blood was impressive, and further reminded him of how perfectly matched she was for him. The burn of lust that filled him urged him to obey, and he took her wrists in his hands and shoved them back to the ground as his lifted his chest to loom over her. He had not forgotten that she did not exactly like to be pinned, to have control taken from her. At least, not at first. The frown that started to form on her lips as her lust dazed eyes glared up at her hulking lover was shattered when his hips drove forward again, and again, and again. She couldn't frown now, and the triumphant grin that parted his mouth when that frown was replaced by open-mouthed cries and moans of pleasure was very Krogan of him.

He did not relent, nor did he remain calm as he watched her face. Her eyes were closed, her head thrown back, the tattoos that covered even more of her soft body covered in a light sheen of salty sweat, her back arched as her hips rose to meet him with a force that allowed him to increase the pace further.

"Uggnnhh… Fuck, Grunt!" He loved it when she said his name, when she made little hungry noises, because he knew it meant she needed more than her mind could process. He was fully rutting her now, his hips meeting hers as he sheathed his cock deep into a body that seemed too small to accept him until the sound of his growls and her cries of lust met with the slap of hard hide against soft flesh. The small space in the prefab only added to the since of need, closing them in so tightly that her scent swam around him, mingled with his own and drove his primal need to breed into overdrive.

It was not meant to last. It had been too long, and he needed her more than he had realized. And she clearly suffered in that same need, because before he could even realize that he was close to the edge, she was thrown over it. Sharp blue eyes focused on her at the first signs, at the trembling of her body, the sharpening of her cries, the increase in her scent. It happened only a few, hard thrusts later when her back bowed at an angle that he still found impressive and the walls of her sex clenched around his shaft, somehow making that impossibly tight little body tighter around him. Her body shook, her skin reddened as her felt her body temperature ride marginally, and she screamed in a way that pleased him. The sound delighted him, really. He knew that the camp full of humans and Turians and Krogan would have no problem hearing it. And it also caused his pleasure to spike knowing that he had pleased his female, and because the sucking clench of her pussy did not allow him to hold out longer than _she_ wanted him to. His own snarl drowned out her cries as he drove himself forward, every inch of crimson cock vanishing into her, throbbing almost angrily before he came with enough force that it caused her eyes to fly open at the sudden pressure of his cum flooding her.

And much to his lust hazed delight, she came again.

Panting, growling lowly now and then as he slowly ground himself into her to work off the shock-waves of pleasure, he hovered over her with his hands still pinning her wrists while supporting his weight to keep him from crushing her. He lowered his head, and nuzzled the exposed flesh between her breasts lightly. They had not bothered to remove most of her clothing, so his range was limited slightly. Still, he managed to slide his tongue slowly over the salty flesh, and up further along the side of her throat, an action that caused her overly sensitive body to shiver against him and her still quivering sex to tighten for a moment before she opened her eyes. He looked down at her as she opened her mouth to speak…

And was cut off as the door to the prefab shelter slid open. An Alliance marine in full armor stood at the door, assault rifle in hand as he stepped past the threshold. The sandy haired human turned a bit white at the situation he saw in front of him, and his voice was more uncertain than his hands were as he raised the rifle and aimed down his sights at Grunt. "Ma'am, are you alright?"

The sound that rumbled up from the depths of the Krogan was comparable to an earthquake in the small space, and it was only the fact that Jack was under him that prevented the suddenly terrified marine from unloaded a thermal clip into the enraged male's back out of sheer panic. Not that it would have done him much good, really. The sound was cut off as Jack slid her still booted leg up his side, causing the angry growl to lower an octave into something more sexually charged as his gaze returned to her. Reptilian eyes looked down at her as she tsked at him, and sliding her hands free of his finally, placed both of them on his chest to stroke soothingly. This served to calm him further, as the low rumble that came from him now was pure pleasure. "I am technically Alliance now, Grunt. No getting me kicked out. I can do that just fine on my own."

The marine had lowered the rifle, and now just stared in shock as the tiny woman soothed the massive alien on top of her. Jack knew that he had already decided that the situation had been... Misinterpreted by the look of shock and befuddlement in on his young face. "If you don't mind," she began, her eyes locking on those of the other human with an icy annoyance that caused the marine to shuffle his feet nervously. "Could you and other assholes outside not to point guns at my Krogan?" She very nearly purred the last words, and Grunt wondered if she had felt the jolt and throb of his cock within her as she called him "her Krogan." But she simply narrowed her eyes as she continued. "Consider this a 'Do not disturb' sign, because we are not fucking done."

With that, she flicked her hand at him, the sudden whip of biotics flinging the startled man back through the door before another twitch of her finger caused the door to slide closed, and the green light to turn red as she locked it.

 

Normandy SR 2

Three months later

Jack released a heated moan into the empty shower room. Empty because she had locked the door, and because she had no desire to murder someone on the Normandy for accidentally walking in and interrupting the Krogan on one knee behind her. And she would have. Anything that stopped the slide of that skilled tongue inside of her was going to die. And that included Grunt. She braced her hands on the tile wall under the shower head, the hot water sliding down her slender body in cascades that she didn't even feel anymore. All she could feel was the slow, amazingly patient, thick and delicious tongue attached to the male that was eating her out. There was no other way to say it. Maybe feasting, but that seemed a little fluffy to her. No… He was devouring her, because it was clear that while his goal was her pleasure, his true intent was exactly what he had told her; he wanted to taste her. Like she was some delicacy that he had been denied for a year.

And he was doing a damned good job of showing her that he loved it as much as she did. The slow slide of his tongue over the outer lips of her sex started at the nub of her clit, before that wide muscle slid upward and dipped into her mercilessly. It was like every tongue from every lover she had ever had wrapped into one amazing, ridiculously hot piece of orgasm machine. Her hips bucked as she thrust her ass back towards him, but went still when his hands moved to settle on her hips, holding her still. And she let him hold her still, because she knew damned well that this alien lizard had been very eager to learn some fucking amazing…

"H-holy… Fuuuuck…" Her entire body shuddered as the wide, wet muscle slipped into her in a way that filled her more fully than most cocks she had ever known. But it was agile, and mobile, and her breath caught in mid gasp when he released a throaty growl of pleasure himself. She wasn't sure if he did it because he liked what he tasted, or if he _knew_ that every little rumble that escaped him went through his tongue and right into her overheated pussy. It didn't really matter, and she didn't actually care as the motions of his tongue became more aggressive. She knew he could feel, smell, or taste how close she was. Maybe all three. Maybe hear it, too, because she was not being silent in her appreciation as her hips started to strain against the firm grip of his large hands. His reaction was to growl again in a sound that she could only call hungry as his tongue moved a bit deeper into her, moved a bit faster.

And then the scaled bastard moved one of his hands from her hips, and slipped between and under her thighs to press one rough finger against the nub of her clit to circle it slowly in time with the wet lap of his tongue inside of her. He had learned fast, which she should have expected from a walking encyclopedia, but holy shit did he learn things right. It was like he had pulled a trigger, and she explode. She had always been vocal, but the shrill scream of lust that shot from her mouth echoed through the room as her legs shook violently. The explosion that started around his tongue traveling through her body like a shockwave of heat and almost painful pleasure that made her loose her footing. Not that she noticed that she had lost her footing at first, before however gently he destroyed her with his tongue, he was still the strongest male she had ever known and the one hand that held her hip was easily enough for him to hold her hips upright and keep her trembling sex pressed to his mouth.

It took her a good five minutes for her mind to become her own again; mostly because the bastard Krogan behind her had not stopped even when she had (unknowingly) whimpered for him to take pity on her. She might have cum three times, or maybe it had been six. After the first two had run together she had stopped trying to count. She groaned silently as she felt her feet touch the ground again, and felt the giant of a male rumble a chuckle behind her even as he lapped her juices from his lips and drew himself up. "Hm… Smug fucker. Just because you've learned to become a halfway competent fuck buddy, I bet you think you're just amazing."

Jack's eyes widened a bit when he did not release her as she had expected him to. Instead, he kept one hand steady on her hips while the other moved to press between her shoulders to keep her pinned against the wall. She felt the heat of his breath on the back of her neck, and smelled her own scent when he spoke in a rumble that traveled through her entire body. "Tell me what you think when I am finished with you, Angel." Her eyes widened when she felt the iron hard tip of his cock nestle against the still quivering lips of her sex, and when he drove himself into her from behind without a shred of mercy, the last sane thought to cross her mind was, " _Fucking tube lizard…"_


	4. Not Easy to Define

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to make this four chapters, but I decided to add this short before the last one because I thought the idea was awesome. I hope you do, too. :)
> 
> Hits, reviews and Kudos are all tasty. But nothing more than reviews. Those tasty... Tasty reviews...

_Normandy SR2_

Two days later

 

He waited outside of the door, which had stubbornly refused to open for a full thirty seconds after he had signaled a request to enter. The past few days, since returning to the Normandy, he had started to feel restless. It was almost the same sensation he had felt before taking his Right, but more focused around Jack, his time with her, and the reactions of other members of the crew when they were in her vicinity. Even now, he clenched, and unclenched his fists to tightly that his knuckles ground together. The pain helped, a little. But the fact that…

He all but charged through the door when the light turned green, and he heard Shepard's voice through the com, giving him leave to enter. He stopped just pasted the door, silver blue eyes darting around to take in the interior of the cabin for a moment. He had never been in Shepard's cabin before, and found it surprisingly… Decorative. Ship models, plants, fish. A brief moment of wondering if the fish were for eating passed through his mind before he turned his gaze on the dark haired woman and her Turian mate. They were reclining on the couch, the Turian sitting upright against one arm while the surprisingly small human female leaded back against him, looking comfortable in the robe that covered her from head to toe.

Somehow, she never failed to surprise him simply by existing. His Angel was amazing in her own ways. Her violence, her strength, her attitude. But Shepard… She was an unstoppable force on a galactic scale, who had defeated a foe that had come close to devastating all life in the galaxy. And yet every instinct told him that he could simply pick her up, and break her like a child's toy. He knew that it wasn't true, somehow. Especially not now, with her Turian mate glaring daggers at him. Grunt could smell that they had been mating, or about to mate before he had requested entry, but he raised his broad shoulders in a shrug towards Garrus even as Shepard spoke.

"What is it, Grunt? Is something wrong?"

"Yes," he grumbled as he started to pace suddenly. The reminder of the reason he had actually come caused his agitation to rise again, and started the clench, clench, clench of his fists again. "What is love?"

Grunt could immediately tell that the subject had been the last thing they had expected him to question them about. Garrus, after taking a moment to process the words shuffled a bit in his seat as his human mate sat up from her comfortable lean against him. He had spent enough time with them in battle, and other soldiers of both species on Earth, to know what their signals meant. The flutter of Garrus' mandibles was a sign of unease, or uncertainty. While the wrinkle that appeared between Shepard's brows meant… What was it again? Confusion seemed the most likely answer. "Grunt," she began, her eyes focused on his as she leaned towards him slightly. "Why do you ask?"

His pacing stopped, which made the room seem suddenly very silent without the heavy 'thump thump thump' of his boots being driven into the carpet. "I think… I think I might be in love." His two battle masters could not have looked more flabbergasted if he had broken into cheerful song and dance in the middle of the room. "But then I looked it up, and it confuses me, because it doesn't seem right to what I feel. Poetry, and songs, and little hearts. The hearts gave me hope for a minute, but then I looked them up and realized that they were just stupid little drawings that don't even look like real hearts. And everywhere I looked for human love, because Jack is human, love was about feelings, and tenderness, and being kind to each other, and more songs and poetry. And when I looked for Krogan ideas about loves it makes a little more since, but there is so little information on it since the Genophage. Now all I see if how to mate, how to prolong our species, how to murder your genetic rivals so that the strongest can produce offspring. And Turians are just as bad."

"Whoa there, Grunt," Garrus interrupted suddenly, the low growl in the older male's chest causing grunt to pause his ramblings. "How are Turians just as bad as Krogans when it comes to love?"

Seeing the insult that radiated from Shepard's mate made grunt snort slightly before he answered in a voice that was mockingly amused. "Turian love is duty to family, honoring code, sacrificing for the greater good of the Hierarchy."

Leaning back with a huff, his mandibles twitching in annoyance, Garrus muttered, "When you put it that way… We are as bad as Krogans."

"It makes no sense that it is love," Grunt continued as his pacing started again. He could feel the annoyance tighten his muscles, and the desire to head-butt something had become a undeniable taste in his mouth. "But still, I feel like it is. I want to be with her. She fires my blood, and makes me hard…"

"Grunt…"

"…Every time I see another male looking at her, I want to crush them under my boot…"

"Grunt...?"

"…But there is no songs, or tenderness, or poetry, or duty, or chance of breeding. When we are together, we're either mating, or talking about mating. Or talking about fighting, and then mating. Or talking about past battles, and then mating…"

"Grunt!"

Blue eyes blinked once, and he came to a stop again at the bark of his name from Shepard; who, once she had his attention, lowered her head into her hands for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking up at him. "How exactly do you think Garrus and I met? We were chasing a rogue specter when we met, and Collectors when we met again, and always Reapers…"

"And Cerberus." Garrus added helpfully, and with a glint of amusement in his eyes. "And Batarian terrorists. And psychopathic AIs. And Thresher Maws. And Cerberus again. Oh, and Asari Matriarchs that worked for the rogue Spector that worked for the Reapers that were connected to Cerberus..."

"Yes!" Shepard cut him off with a wave of her hand, turning a sweet smile her mate that Garrus recognized as her _shut the fuck up, Vakarian_ smile. "Thank you for clarifying that, Garrus."

"You're welcome," he quipped, his mandibles quivering just a bit in amusement even under the exasperated glare from Shepard.

"The point is," she continued as she turned her eyes back to Grunt, "we did not meet under what anyone would consider to be romantic circumstances. All we talked about was battle, or past battles. We got to know and trust each other under fire. We didn't date. He didn't give me love songs, or poetry, or little paper hearts…"

"Do you want some little paper hearts? I am sure I could manage."

"Keep talking Vakarian," she said, shoving a finger into the center of his chest. A finger which he looked down at without losing his amused grin. "And you'll find yourself snuggling up to the main cannon tonight."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather snuggle up to it?" came the Turian's cocky chuckle as he rolled his shoulders. "I mean if you kick me out, it would be the only thing you might find to compare…"

Grunt watched as Shepard's mouth dropped open in shock, and then laughter bubbled in her throat as she grabbed one of the small pillows from the couch and smacked the grinning Turian across the face with a few times. After a few seconds of the assault, the young Krogan watched as a three fingered hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her across the couch onto his chest, pinning her there with the other hand at the small of her back. As their mouths met, one tiny feminine mewl of protest escaping Shepard and a throaty resonate growl coming from her mate (which were both sounds Grunt fully understood) Grunt absorbed her words, and their actions.

Yes. This is their 'love,' and they do not try to define is as more. I think I understand.

While it did not fully ease his mind, nor did it clarify what love should have meant to him, it did make the young warrior understand that he needed to stop looking to someone else to help him define it. It was not perfect.

But it would do.

* * *

A little "mmmfh" was all Shepard could manage for the first few moments of the kiss with her mate. She wanted so badly to just melt into him. God, he had gotten so much better at kissing, and she had never had a reason to complain before. But this… The twine of his long tongue sliding wetly along hers made her will almost crumble before she remember that Grunt was still there. Even as his chest rumbled in light protest, he didn't stop her when she placed both hands on his chest and gently pulled away. Turning, she faced Grunt. "Anyway… Oh."

She wasn't facing Grunt; she was facing a closing door.

"Maybe he got what he needed," she heard Garrus mutter. Serious conversation may have been a moot point very soon she quickly realized, mostly because the deep timber of his voice trickled down the back of her neck like a warm rain before he nuzzled there. A delicious shiver ran the length of her body as she surrendered to him as she surrendered to no one else, leaning back against him and letting him take away any iota of stress with his mouth. And his hands. And that sexy, sexy voice. "Do you think Jack loves him?"

"I don't know," she managed to say without sounding like the puddle of lusty human she was about to becoming. That little trick of will was going to fail her very soon. Not that it mattered. She was certain that he could smell the liquid heat blooming between her thighs already. "Before I saw her with those biotic kids, I would have said no. But… I think they changed her for the better. And stranger things have happened."

A soft, delighted laugh left her as she found herself swept up into his arms, and she loved him for making the savior of the galaxy feel like the normal woman that she so desperately wanted to be now. There followed a few silent moments where he laid her down on their bed, and smooth talons drew the belt of her robe away before parting it reverently. The loving Turian nuzzled and nipped as his mates neck with all of the tenderness of someone who had never expected to be where he was again. Then, after a nip and a heartbeat passed, he replied. "No... I really don't think they have."


End file.
